Johann Heinichen
Johann David Heinichen was a German composer and music theorist of the late Baroque era, who served as court Kapellmeister in Dresden. He studied law before dedicating himself to music, travelled to Italy to further his musical education, and authored influential treatises on thorough-bass and harmony. His compositions include masses, motets, operas and one of the earliest examples of called the “Dresden Concertos”.
Born in 1683 in Krössuln near Weissenfels to a pastor, Heinichen was educated at the Thomasschule in Leipzig, where he studied with Johann Schelle and Johann Kuhnau, receiving training in organ and harpsichord. Before turning fully to music, he served as a regent in Pegau, worked briefly as a village pastor, and practiced law after qualifying as a lawyer in Leipzig.
Heinichen spent seven formative years in Italy, particularly in Venice, where his operas were successfully staged and where he met Prince Frederick Augustus, who later facilitated his appointment as Kapellmeister in Dresden. He also taught music to Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, becoming a colleague of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1717.
His prolific sacred output includes twelve masses, two requiems, several magnificats, psalm motets, Marian antiphons, hymns including settings of the Te Deum, litanies, as well as notable arias such as Io vorrei saper d’amore and numerous orchestral works. His operatic creations include Mario and Le passioni per troppo amore, and his unperformed Dresden opera Flavio Crispo was not recorded until 2018.
Heinichen is credited with independently formulating an early representation of the circle of fifths in his 1711 treatise, later expanding his theoretical work into a monumental study of harmony and composition in 1728. His pupils included Johann Georg Pisendel, and although his music fell into obscurity after his death from tuberculosis in 1729, it experienced renewed interest after modern recordings of the Dresden Concertos and his passion oratorios.
Connections
This figure has 1 connection in the art history graph.